Dengue Victim Gay Small Identified as Cases Hit 134

Tampa Bay Times identifies 80-year-old Gay Small as Florida's dengue fatality, as Hillsborough County's case count climbs to 134.

The Florida Department of Health confirmed on Friday, Sept. 18 that the state's dengue outbreak has claimed a life, and the Tampa Bay Times has now identified the victim as Gay Small, an 80-year-old Tampa woman who died at Tampa General Hospital on Sept. 4 after a mosquito bite near her Bayshore Boulevard home. According to the Times, her death certificate lists "dengue infection" alongside "septic shock" and "multi-organ failure," and her daughter Anna Small said the state's confirmation means officials agree dengue killed her mother. Hillsborough County health officials had earlier declined to release identifying details, citing the family's privacy.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Small's death marks Tampa Bay's first dengue fatality in almost a century, according to Kristi Miley, who teaches at USF's College of Public Health. That detail matters for understanding the risk: only about one in four people with dengue ever know they have it, so repeat infections can hit people who never realized they were vulnerable.

Hillsborough County is now the epicenter of one of Florida's worst dengue surges in decades, with 134 of the state's 152 locally acquired cases, while Pinellas and Miami-Dade counties each have seven, according to state health department data. County spokesperson Chris Wilkerson told the Associated Press the scale is "wildly unusual," and Medical Daily reports Florida added 41 local cases in a single week — the largest weekly increase of the year, including 39 in Hillsborough. County environmental scientist Paolo Pecora says the county has never seen an outbreak of this magnitude.

There is a cautiously hopeful signal in the mosquito data. Tampa Bay Times reports that of the last 1,500 mosquitoes Hillsborough County sent for laboratory testing, all returned negative for dengue, which Pecora interprets as a sign that the likelihood of new infections is waning. Crews have been spraying insecticide from trucks and helicopters day and night and checking properties for standing water, including discarded tires — at one tire business, mosquito counts fell from 1,145 female mosquitoes to six after treatment, Medical Daily reports.

Because the virus is circulating in the human population, newly born mosquitoes that bite infected residents can keep transmission going even as spraying succeeds. Pecora told the Tampa Bay Times that reducing breeding habitats is now the key task, asking residents to empty outdoor containers — buckets, pet bowls, toys, birdbaths and clogged gutters — where rainwater pools. "It's a team effort. It's a community effort," he said. Health officials also advise using EPA-registered repellent and wearing long sleeves, noting the Aedes mosquitoes that carry dengue bite during the day near sunrise and sunset.

University of Florida associate professor Michael von Fricken told the Associated Press that with virus-carrying mosquitoes now abundant and expanding their range with climate change, dengue is unlikely to tail off in Florida. "I do think it's going to be somewhat the new normal," he said. The state's next surveillance update is expected within the week, and officials caution that the true case count is almost certainly higher than reported, since most infections never reach a doctor. Residents with fever and severe headache or joint pain after a bite should seek medical care.